Gaza evacuees worry for family left behind; thousands of scam websites removed by Australia's corporate regulator; and in sports, departing Wallabies coach Eddie Jones denies a job offer in Japan was the reason he resigned.
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TRANSCRIPT
- Gaza evacuees worry for family left behind
- Thousands of scam websites removed by Australia's corporate regulator
- Departing Wallabies coach Eddie Jones denies a job offer in Japan was the reason he resigned
Australians who have evacuated Gaza say they are grateful to have left, but fear for family members who remain.
About 20 Australians were among a group of 400 foreign passport holders who exited Gaza into Egypt using the Rafah crossing.
Qatar brokered a deal between Egypt, Hamas and Israel to allow foreign national civilians to leave Gaza after being trapped there for three weeks during the conflict.
Mona says her concern is for family members who remain in Gaza.
"But I am very sad of course at the same time because I am leaving my family behind with no food, no water... in a very, very scary situation. And they are ont even in their houses. They move from house to another... I can't describe the situation there. It is very very sad."
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US president Joe Biden says there should be a humanitarian pause in the Israel-Hamas conflict to allow for the release of hostages and the passage of aid.
Mr Biden has previously said the US would not dictate how Israel carries out its military operations in reponse to the October 7 attack by Hamas.
During a speech in Minneapolis, a woman in the crowd called out to him to support a ceasefire, to which he responded: "I think we need a pause".
Earlier, he said it is a relief to see the first group of people leave Gaza for the first time since the war broke out.
"This is a result of intense and urgent American diplomacy regarding our partners in the region. I personally spent a lot of time speaking with Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel and President el-Sisi of Egypt and others to make sure that we could open this access for people to get out. I want to thank our partners in the region, particularly Qatar - who has worked so closely to support negotiations to facilitate the departure of these citizens."
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Thousands of scam websites have been removed by Australia's corporate regulator.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission says 2,100 websites have been taken down since July.
The scam websites removed include fake investment platforms, crypto-asset scam websites, and imposter scam websites where legitimate financial service businesses are being impersonated.
More than $3.1 billion was lost to scams in 2022 — an 80 per cent increase from the year prior.
Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones says the government is looking at various ways of stopping scams before they reach Australians.
"We understand that unless we deal with the whole ecosystem in which scams are being visited upon Australians, we won't fix the problem. So banks are a focus because banks are the pot of money at the end of a scam transaction. But we also want to look at how scams are reaching Australians and at the moment, over 50 per cent of those scams, the vectors by which they're reaching Australians, are through the telecommunications system, through phone calls and SMS'."
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New stem cell research has shown a way forward in treating and possibly reversing osteoarthritis.
The condition is marked by degeneration of cartilage and other tissues in joints.
It is the most common form of arthritis in Australia, affecting one in five people over 45 and costing the Australian health system an estimated $3.9 billion annually.
A recent University of Adelaide study has revealed a potential breakthrough using a novel population of stem cells marked by the Gremlin 1 gene, which, when stimulated with Fibroblast Growth Factor 18, led to cartilage recovery and reduced osteoarthritis in mice.
University of Adelaide’s Dr Jia Ng co-led the study. She says she is excited by the possibilities.
"Really, the findings of our study reimagine osteoarthritis not as a ‘wear and tear’ condition but as an active, and pharmaceutically reversible loss of critical articular cartilage stem cells. With this new information, we are now definitely able to explore pharmaceutical options to directly target the stem cell population that is responsible for the development of articular cartilage and progression of osteoarthritis."
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In sports, Eddie Jones says he has no regrets about quitting as Wallabies coach, after less than a year in charge.
Jones signed a contract until 2027, but will officially leave the job as coach later this month.
The Wallabies failed to reach the knockout stages of the World Cup for the first time in their history.
Australia was beaten by Fiji, and lost heavily to Wales... with Jones denying he'd been interviewed for the Japan head coach's role days before.
"Well, I think it is a red herring, mate. Absolute red herring. Again, if you look at Australian rugby over the last 20 years we have had no success - limited success. And we need to change things. And now we're trying to say that a supposed interview was the reason why Australia has a bad World Cup. That's a load of rubbish."
Rugby Australia has today announced an external review will be conducted into the 20-23 season, including the World Cup.
